


The Night Before the Night Before Christmas

by T009HopeStar



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Christmas, Diamond City, Gen, Good deed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29545065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/T009HopeStar/pseuds/T009HopeStar
Summary: It's the night before the night before Christmas and Nate and Piper are staying in Diamond City for the night before heading on in the morning to get to Sanctuary in time for Christmas. An unexpected visitor shows up at the Dugout to give them the chance to do one more good deed before the holiday arrives.
Relationships: Male Sole Survivor/Piper Wright
Kudos: 5





	The Night Before the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before the night before Christmas and all through Diamond City, noises could be heard. This was especially true in the Dugout Inn. The place was packed with people seeking shelter from the cold, dark clouds looming over the Commonwealth threatening to cover it in glowing snow. Winter in the post-apocalyptic Commonwealth was much harsher than what it had once been, but if not for the dangers and harshness of it, it could almost be considered beautiful. On nights after snow had fallen, the landscaped glowed. Not like it used to on snowy evenings back before the war. No, this snow glowed in a faint green color. Impossible to see during the day, but at night it became very obvious. It was best enjoyed from inside a good shelter. Thus everyone in the city heading for the Dugout Inn.

Piper and I were no exception, though unlike some of the other patrons, we weren't planning on spending the whole night there. We would be heading back to Sanctuary first thing in the morning come hell or radioactive snow. There was no way Piper and I would miss out on being home for Christmas with Shaun and Nat. Our latest expedition had taken longer than we expected and we had to push ourselves to get to Diamond City before this storm rolled in. Now it looked like we'd be walking through snow in the morning.

Didn't sound too pleasant, especially after walking through the storm without the snow, but things worth doing in the Commonwealth were rarely ever easy. Still, the effort would be worth it to see those two again. Intending to take things easy tonight, Piper and I decided we'd stick to a beer or two tonight. Anything more and we risked having a nasty morning and delaying our return home. At the same time, it had been a long, miserable walk up from Murkwater and we both agreed we needed to do something to relax and warm up after the trek. The Dugout seemed like the perfect place to get both for an hour or two.

So as we came down the steps into Diamond City, we headed straight to the Inn. I held the door open for Piper, who hurried in with a rushed, "Thanks, Blue."

I quickly followed and before I could shut the door, I noticed a lone young woman huddling against the wall across the alleyway. She wore a ratty brown coat and pulled it tight around as she tried to bury her head within it. She caught me staring and quickly averted her eyes. It was odd, but not the oddest thing I'd ever seen in the Wasteland or even Diamond City.

Knowing I let the heat out, I didn't worry about her long. I quickly shut the door behind me and relished in the warmth of the concrete insulated room.

Piper let out a contented sigh. "I'll get us a table, you get the drinks?"

"Sounds like a plan." We split up and went to our assigned tasks.

When I finally managed to squeeze my way through the crowd to the bar, Vadim greeted me with his usual booming voice. "Nate! You look frozen to death! Warm yourself up. Have some of Bobrov's Best Moonshine."

I turned him down with a polite smile a single shake of my head. "Not tonight, Vadim. We have an early morning tomorrow."

"You're too busy. Relax for a night."

"Two beers, please." He waved dismissively but grabbed the requested beverages anyway. I thanked him and then scoured the room for my partner. I found her tucked away at a corner table.

I set a beer in front of her and she smiled up at me as I sat down. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

She sipped at the beer and leaned back in her chair. When she removed the bottle from her lips, she sighed contentedly. "Today was too long and too cold."

"You can say that again."

I watched the sparkle in her eyes as she debated doing just that.

For a few moments, we sat in silence, well, not silence. The room was still very loud and busy, but the two of us remained quiet, just relaxing and enjoying the fact we were home. At one of them anyway. Somehow, the world had fallen apart and I managed to have multiple places in the Commonwealth where I could comfortably, by new world standards anyway, stay.

I was very lucky. Many people out there didn't even have one place where they could feel safe. That was why I did everything I could to help people build up and defend their homes. I was glad I met Piper and she felt the same way I did. Having her by my side whenever someplace needed help reassured me that no matter the challenge, we could get through it together.

"Thank you for coming with me."

She smirked as she repeated my earlier response. "Anytime, Blue. Though next time, can we go someplace warmer?"

I laughed with her and took another sip. "I'll try to keep that in mind."

As if to prove just how impossible that would be, a cold gust of wind rushed through the makeshift establishment. The wind chilled the air and sent playing cards flying from tables. All eyes turned to a young teen girl in jeans, a pink sweater, and a pink beanie over blonde hair as she forced the door shut against the wind. She stood out for two reasons: One, those clothes were not warm enough for the weather outside. Two, she was too clean to be from the Commonwealth.

When Vadim saw her, he shouted over the noise of the disgruntled customers. "Hey! No children in bar. We not daycare."

Piper and I rose from our table and headed for the girl, recognizing her in an instant. "It's okay Vadim," Piper said, "She's with us."

"Fine, but no moonshine for her. Unless, of course, you are okay with that?" He offered, to which Piper glared back at him. "Was only suggestion." He shrugged and returned to tending to his customers at the bar.

"Claire, what are you doing here?" I asked, guiding her toward our table.

She shrugged as she pulled off her pink beanie and shook out her hair. "Eh, just thought I'd pop in. I went by Home Plate, but you weren't there. It's freezing out there." She hung her purse off the back of her chair as she took a seat.

"We noticed," Piper said. She took another sip of her drink.

"Can we get you something?" I asked.

Claire thumbed the crystal pendant hanging from her neck. "I'm fine, plus that's probably not a good idea. The less radiation I consume, the better."

"Fair enough," I said. I couldn't blame her for wanting to stay rad-free. "How have you been?"

"I've been keeping busy, bouncing around and checking in on people."

"So, you're here just to check on us?" Piper asked. Claire shrugged in response as the reporter leaned back in her chair and pulled out a cigarette. It was the first one I'd seen her reach for in a week or so. She really was trying to quit, but I figured the stress from the day had brought on the desire to smoke.

Unfortunately for my companion, our young friend wasn't as understanding. "You know those will kill you, right?"

Piper's eyes narrowed as she stared at the teen. "I know. You're as bad as your father and Blue here."

She pointed at me. In response, I put a hand over my heart and did my best to look offended. Claire giggled while Piper didn't buy it one bit.

"I am working on it, okay."

Claire shifted in her seat as she sat back. "Sorry, force of habit."

Piper puffed on her cigarette before pulling it away to examine it. "Believe me, I know how hard habits are to break."

I reached over and took ahold of her free hand. "You'll get there."

She smiled back at me. "With your nagging, that's guaranteed." Our eyes met and I became lost in her hazel green depths.

Claire cleared her throat, snapping both of us back into reality. "There's a lady outside who needs help." She hitched her thumb over her shoulder toward the door.

My mind went instantly to the woman I'd seen earlier. Something about her bothered me, but I couldn't quite figure out why. I didn't recognize her, and she seemed to be keeping to herself. "Why hasn't she come in and asked for help?"

Claire shrugged. "Maybe she's afraid or embarrassed to."

Piper straightened up in her chair and set her cigarette in the table's ashtray. "How do you know she needs help? Did you talk to her?"

Claire shook her head before asking a question neither of us expected. "You said it's almost Christmas, right?"

We nodded.

Then Claire shared a very simple concept with us, one I was embarrassed to admit I hadn't thought of. "Everyone just wants to be home for Christmas, meaning if they weren't in trouble, they'd already be there. Since she's standing out there, alone in the cold, it just makes sense."

It did make sense. Piper and I wanted the same thing.

I shared a look with my partner and could see in her eyes the same debate running through my head. We wanted to help, but we also wanted to get some rest after the very long day. We'd spent enough time in the cold wind walking and dealing with raiders, super mutants, and everything else the wasteland could throw at us. We were exhausted. We didn't have the energy to help another person today. We also didn't have the time. We just wanted to go home and sleep so we could get up early tomorrow and be in Sanctuary well before nightfall. Problem was, we wouldn't be able to, knowing someone out there could use our help.

I took a swig from my bottle as I mulled the options over. A small part of me hoped the drink would be enough to convince me to just go home and crawl into a nice warm bed with Piper.

It didn't.

With a deep sigh, Piper finished the rest of her drink. "Let's go talk to her."

I rose from the table and pushed in my chair. "You can stay here while I go talk to her."

She rolled her eyes before standing as well. "As if I'm letting you get into trouble on your own. I'm coming too, I just wish it wasn't so cold out there." She pulled her coat tighter around her shoulders.

Claire perked up and reached into her purse and pulled out two glowing orange, can-sized, oval stones. As if the glowing wasn't enough, the fact both of those items came out of her tiny purse would have shocked most people. One alone would have been hard-pressed to fit into the pink purse. "Take these. They're thermal stones, basically heat batteries. You warm them up and they will hold their heat for a long time. My aunt got the idea from a video game."

At the mention of video games, we both fixed her with a stare. It was still such a strange concept to think we existed within a game. To think someone had been controlling my actions up until I spoke with Claire's father and his friend sounded insane, and I now lived in the Wasteland. Still, ever since learning that fact, I'd seen a lot more weirdness than I ever expected to see in my life. It was all very unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome. If anything, it helped explain how I carried so many guns at once.

We each took one of the stones, which were nice and toasty. Their warmth seemed to seep through my whole body and chase the last remaining bits of cold from my limbs. Despite their size, the stones easily slipped into our pockets where they continued to add their warmth. The best part was they added their warmth without causing extra radiation. The Geiger counter on my Pip-Boy didn't react at all to the stones.

Rising to join us, Claire swung her purse over her shoulder and fell in line as I led the way outside. The minute the door opened, the wind lashed at my face, freezing it almost instantly. Thankfully, the combat armor and vault suit helped keep the rest of me insulated. Still, my arms instinctively wrapped around me in an attempt to stay warm. Piper looped her arm with mine. Claire stuck close to my left side and pulled her beanie back on. Our small group huddled over to the young woman who sat against the shack wall. She tried in vain to pull her cloak tighter around herself, but it didn't seem to help with the freezing temperatures. She shivered uncontrollably as her breath billowed out in short, wispy puffs that were quickly carried away. Strands of dark hair whipped across her face and lashed against her tightly shut eyes.

"Excuse us, do you need help, Ma'am?" I asked, keeping a respectable distance between us. Even though she really did look like she needed help, this was the Wasteland and we had to be careful.

The woman's gray eyes snapped open and she looked at the three of us in shock. "I'm f-f-fine." She chattered. She attempted to tighten her wrap even more as if to shield herself from us.

I assumed none of us believed her, and Piper was the first to voice that thought with her usual sarcasm. "You sure don't look fine."

Despite her frozen lips and chattering teeth, the woman still managed to snap at us. "I said I'm fine!"

Claire tilted her head as she studied the woman. When she spoke, her voice was soft and lacked the harsher sarcasm Piper's had held. "Then why are you sitting outside in the cold, all alone, just before Christmas?"

The woman didn't answer, but I persisted. Despite what she claimed, I agreed with Claire's earlier assessment. People didn't just sit in the cold, alone before Christmas. "There is no shame in asking for help. A lot of people need help from time to time, and we're actually pretty good at it." I said.

She looked up at me and I could see the indecision in her eyes. Like a lot of people in the Wasteland, I assumed she wanted to keep her problems to herself and handle things on her own. If she could, she'd be strong, and nobody would know about her weaknesses. The problem fell to the fact of where she had seemingly set up shop for the night. People who didn't have problems wouldn't be sleeping outside on the ground as a snowstorm approached. The tough act wouldn't help her now. If anything, it would lead to her freezing to death and nobody finding her until the snow melted.

I would not let that happen. Piper liked to say that was the old, pre-war relic in me. For as much of the teasing she liked to give me for being too kind to strangers, she wasn't very different than me. It was why we got along so well. We were both kind people with different experiences, and when we were together, we balanced one another out. Together, we were two unstoppable forces of good for the Commonwealth.

I hoped the young woman before us could understand. We weren't here to take advantage of her. We truly wanted to help.

"Not that it is any of your business," she began with a huff, "but I'm on my way to Starlight Drive-in. The storm slowed me down and made me stop in Diamond City."

A smile made its way onto my face. "Well, you're in luck. Piper and I will be heading that way bright and early tomorrow morning."

Seemingly sensing her usual sarcastic replies weren't helping here, and truly wanting to lend a hand, Piper spoke again in a softer tone. "You're more than welcome to come with us."

"Sounds good, I'll see you in the morning." She tried to turn away from us, but Piper and I just sidestepped to remain in her line of sight. She wasn't getting off that easy.

As quickly as it disappeared, the sarcasm returned. "You can't seriously be considering sleeping out here?" Piper asked.

"Why not get a room in the Dugout?" I gestured to the establishment behind us. Her gazer studied the concrete structure but she remained quiet, so I continued. "I'm sure there's a room available."

The woman pulled her knees closer to her chest as she looked away from us. Claire and I caught the meaning of the action right away. However, while I tried to think of a subtle approach to the woman's money problem, Claire faced it head-on. "You don't have any money, do you?"

In a flash, the woman whipped her head around to glare at the teen. Her already red face darkened a shade as she tried to get Claire to leave with just a look. However, Claire remained unfazed by the daggers being sent her way. She just tilted her head a little as she awaited an answer.

With a huff, the woman relented. "No, I don't have any money."

I instantly began doing the math in my head, trying to figure out how many caps I had on me. I'd taken to leaving most of my reserves in Sanctuary so the people there could buy whatever they needed. I only brought enough with me for a few days, and we were nearing the end of those days. The beers were a final splurge before returning home. I figured I could probably work out a deal with Vadim and Yefim to pay at a later date. I doubted they'd be thrilled with the idea but figured they'd trust me to pay them back next time I came through town.

There was also the option of letting her stay with us for the night, though this one seemed like a bad idea, even to me. I wouldn't have offered a stranger a spare bed in my home before the bombs fell, and doing so after the fact seemed like a bad idea. If there was one thing I learned from the Wasteland, it was people couldn't always be trusted.

Before I could throw either idea out there, the woman quickly added. "I don't need charity. I'll be fine out here." I think we all heard the uncertainty in her voice as she lied.

Claire lifted her face skyward. "It's only going to get worse."

As if on cue, a faintly glowing snowflake drifted down from the clouds. It was the first of legions and more followed. The woman stared at the flake and its comrades with masked worry. Another bone-chilling gust of wind ripped down the alleyway, she again tried to tighten her wrap, but the thin fabric had been pushed past its limits. There was no way it could provide any more warmth in these conditions.

"Here, I have some caps." Claire reached into her purse and pulled out a small bag of caps nearly as big as the accessory itself. She pulled a few out to show they were, indeed, Nuka-Cola bottle caps. Unlike the caps I dealt with on a regular basis, hers shined brightly as if they had just come off the assembly line. Knowing where she came from, that was probably true. "I was going to give them to you." She looked at me and Piper, "'Cause I don't need them, but she clearly needs them more than you two." Piper and I nodded as Claire returned the caps to the bag and then tossed the whole thing to land in the startled woman's lap with a clattering of the makeshift coins. "Use these to rent a room for the night."

Her cold gray eyes darted between the gift and the girl. They couldn't quite decide if they were excited or upset by the offer. Finally, they seemed to settle on an emotion as they hardened. The woman lifted the bag and held it out to Claire. "Take these, I said I didn't want any charity!"

Claire backed up with her hands raised and a growing smirk. "Too bad, they're yours now. I'm out of here." Her eyes landed on Piper and me. "Say hi to everyone for me. Merry Christmas, and I'll see you guys around sometime." With a final wave, she bolted down the alley with a skip in her step, laughing the whole way.

Piper and I waved after her with smiles on our faces as the woman watched with her mouth agape as the girl disappeared around a corner. "What is with her?"

"She's excitable," I said. It was the simplest explanation that didn't give away too much. I held my hand out to her. "Here, let's head inside. We can get you your room and plan out tomorrow morning over a warm meal. I'm Nate, by the way, and this is my wife, Piper."

"Floressa." She hesitated for a moment. Her breath billowed out in a cloud as her gray eyes studied mine. With a slow, trembling hand, she grabbed mine, and I pulled her to her feet. "Why are you even helping me?" She asked.

I glanced in the direction Claire had disappeared. "Claire told us you needed help."

Floressa followed my gaze and stared down the alleyway for a long time, her hands playing with the bag of caps. "But I've never spoken to her."

"She's pretty good at reading people." I headed back to the Dugout with Piper still on my arm. When we got to the door, Floressa was still standing there, the corners of her mouth twitching into a small smile as a tear rolled down her cheek. It could have been caused by the cold wind, but I doubted it. Still, I wouldn't say anything.

As Floressa stood there, seemingly taking in the generous offer she just received, and we watched, Piper whispered in my ear. "I know this is a bit early and all, but I feel like she's actually a good person."

Any con artist likely would have run off with the money by now.

I whispered back. "What if we let her stay with us tonight? Let her save her money."

Piper sighed as Floressa moved from her spot and walked over. "Let's eat and get to know her first before you go opening our home to a complete stranger, Blue, but yeah, sounds like a plan."

Together, the three of us went inside, had a nice meal, and made a new friend on the night before the night before Christmas. I never knew what to expect in the Commonwealth, and I loved that.


End file.
